The old ways won’t work with “us”

March 16, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

An acquaintance recently stated that young people aren’t interested or involved with his product, therefore justifying his company’s lack of a social media presence in its marketing efforts. Now, this assessment is flawed for a number of reasons, but I smiled at him and nodded while he took out his frustration on “Twits” and Facebook users. “How do they have time to update these things? Do they have no lives?”

Despite his relatively warped idea of social media and how people use it, this aforementioned guy is a genuinely intelligent and informed individual. Each day after work, he most likely goes home and reads the newspaper before having dinner with his family. Afterwards he probably finds a comfy spot on the couch and turns on his preferred news network before switching over to watch one or more of his favorite TV shows. What he doesn’t understand is that at the same time, people all across the world are doing the exact same thing. They’re catching up with local, national and world news and they’re finding sources of interest and entertainment. The only difference is that, more and more, people are using the web and social media to facilitate both their conquest of, and interaction with, these things; especially young people.

So allow me to pose a question to my acquaintance and everyone who has the same mentality; if young people aren’t involved with your product, is it because you’re preferred methods simply aren’t reaching them? Look at it this way. Let’s assume you’re using direct mail, radio or outdoor advertising to get the word out about your product or services. These have all traditionally been viable means of communicating with your target audience. Though these mediums are still great ways to market a product in a lot of situations, they’re becoming less and less effective in reaching younger demographics, i.e., the 18-30 audience. Why you ask?

Direct Mail:
It was probably thrown away or disregarded as “junk” mail.

Most people between 18 and 30 are using online services to pay their bills and manage their accounts. This being said, they don’t pay much attention to the physical mail that gets delivered, unless they’re expecting a check. No matter how much money you spend on creating the most appealing postcard, brochure or invitation, today’s youth simply aren’t paying attention.

Radio Advertisements:
Ever heard of an iPod?

If you’re banking on the fact that you can reach a younger demographic by advertising via the radio, you’ll definitely have better luck than with direct mail. But you’ll have to factor out the large percentage of this group that couldn’t tell you the last time they listened to the radio… because they never leave home without their iPod or MP3 player. Taking it along on the daily commute enables them to replace the annoying repetition of mainstream hits and monotone marketing messages with playlists containing all their favorite songs and artists.

Outdoor Advertisement:
It’s hard to see a billboard when ones not watching the road anyway.

Remember the iPod user we just talked about? They just zoomed by your billboard, but they were either changing songs or checking Facebook on their Smartphone while they passed. Oddly enough, had you saved the money on the billboard and spent a little time crafting the right message to put on a company’s Facebook page, the chances of them seeing it would have increased exponentially.

The bottom line is that young people live and breath the web. They’re constantly viewing and interacting with the pages of their friends, family and favorite businesses on Facebook, and continuously keeping up with their favorite sources of news and entertainment via Twitter, and other networks. If social media has no place in your marketing efforts, there’s a definite reason this demographic isn’t paying attention.

3 Reasons Twitter Confuses People

March 11, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

If you’re still unsure about Twitter and what it’s all about, you’re not alone. A recent article in PC World states that 60 percent of new users become disenfranchised within their first month of Tweeting and give up. All things considered, many wonder why anyone would even want to create a Twitter account in the first place if it’s so difficult to use. Listed below are three of the common complaints non-users have and why these misunderstood “issues” have, actually, helped make Twitter the 9th most used site in the world.

140 character limit on Tweets
Confusing Symbols and Terminology
Irrelevant Trending Topics

Criticism 1: 140 Characters – or less…
One of Twitter’s biggest criticisms since it’s conception has been the 140 character limit put on Tweets. Some claim it’s near impossible to say anything valuable in such a limited amount of space.

Response: Someone who can articulately communicate an intellectual, useful or funny message in 140 characters or less is someone who has taken the time to put their thoughts together. Twitter is not a place to ramble on. Quite frankly, that’s one of the best parts about it! Finding scanable, concise and easy to read information designed for web viewing… what more could a person ask for?

Criticism 2: What the #@#@ do these symbols mean?!?
Twitter’s use of hash tags (#) and @’s has no doubt contributed to a lengthy list of confused individuals. For many, learning how to use these symbols properly is a waste of time when they could just use Facebook and not have to worry about any of the nonsense.

Response: Twitter is a phenomenal place to share information, and an equally great place to find it, largely due to the fact that t it allows people to categorize their Tweets based on any topic, phrase or description they like. Hash tags (#) aren’t meant to confuse users; they’re meant to give users a way to categorize their posts. These categorizations allow those looking for specific topics to find them more efficiently. For example, if I wanted to search for conversations about Charlie Sheen, I could search specific keywords that I know people have been using while talking about him, i.e., tiger blood, winning, two and a half men, etc. Take a look at how these descriptors are used as hash tags in the screenshot of an actual user’s Tweet below:

In a similar sense, as hash tags (#) are meant to categorize information, @’s are meant to indicate a Twitter user’s profile. Nothing confusing here. Just remember that if there’s an @ in front of a word, i.e, @DoyleMarketing, @Starbucks, @chrisbrogan you’re looking at a person who’s been mentioned in a Tweet. Check out the example below of Starbucks mentioning USA Today in a recent Tweet.

Criticism 3: THIS… is what’s “Trending?”
New Twitter users often struggle to grasp the concept of the what’s “trending” on Twitter. Often times they’re unfamiliar with the topics that appear to be popular and feel uninterested, out of the loop or uncomfortable with their lack of knowledge about this feature. And why does it matter what they talk about if it’s not relevant to what’s “trending?”

Response: The first thing to keep in mind about what’s “trending” on Twitter is that there are millions of users across the world Tweeting every single day, so anything can trend. If a large group of people are making mention of something, then their topic of discussion, phrase or hash tag, can find itself trending. That being said, the topics that appear as “trending” on the right-hand side of a user’s profile are, by default, set to display “wordwide” trends. If a user can’t find anything relevant to them, they can always take a look and see what’s “trending” locally too. Twitter allows users to see what’s being talked about in the specific cities and countries that they live in or around. If all else fails, users don’t need to worry about what’s “trending.” They can just Tweet about their own interests and passions and start a new trend themselves. The beauty is that no matter where a person’s interests lay, it’s almost guaranteed that they can align themselves with like-minded individuals and information via Twitter.

A Suggestion
Using Twitter on a mobile device helps users keep up with the real-time updates it provides and can also help one feel more connected to their friends and followers. When Twitter begins to seem like an interactive community of friends, contacts and people of interest, it becomes less of an ambiguous space people know they should be occupying, but aren’t sure how. When used regularly, it turns into a useful, informational, fun and, at times addictive, tool.

WordPress and Thesis: A fine team

February 18, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

Thesis WordPress Theme Want to start your own website or blog, but not sure where to begin? Check out wordpress.org: Quick set up, vast customization options and easy to use dashboard tools to manage your site.

Now that that’s settled, want even more customization for your site along with built in SEO? Check out the Thesis theme.

Thesis can be a difference-maker for anyone. The theme allows you to change the column layout, navigation options, colors and fonts on your site, amongst other things. The best part is, you can do all this without having any knowledge of HTML or CSS; but don’t let that fool you. Thesis isn’t just an easily customizable theme for beginners. For someone with even a little experience coding, the possibilities are endless.

Purchasing the Thesis theme makes you a member of diythemes.com where you’ll find helpful discussion forums and great tutorials and user resources for using Thesis to build the site of your dreams.

If you’re serious about creating a website or blog with WordPress, or already have a site, the Thesis Theme by diythemes can help you take your ambitions to the next level.

Marketing with “Balls”

February 17, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

It’s time to stop building marketing campaigns around fluffy, jargon-filled messages that don’t make an impact. It’s time to start marketing with balls.

Rule 1) Be concise. Marketing with balls!
Can you make an appealing argument without writing a novel? If not, here’s an exercise in brevity for you. Don’t try to sell your product with a tagline, small print piece or blog post. Instead use these efforts simply to peak your customers’ interest. If you can do that, they’ll come to you for more specifics.

Rule 2) Be bold.
Don’t be afraid to strut your stuff. Don’t brag, don’t boast (unless it’s called for), but be confident and compelling. Give people something to remember you by, not something to toss in the trash or ignore.

Rule 3) Be Real.
Are the messages in your marketing efforts believable? More importantly, are they accurate? If your product or services can’t walk the walk that backs the talk you’re talking, you’ve probably got a bigger problem than your marketing.

It’s not dead… it’s just changing

February 9, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

“Extra Extra! Read all about it! The downfall of email marketing starts today!”

The doomsday of email marketing is continuously foretold across the web. Claims that Social Media is replacing traditional email, that email marketing is viewed too much like spam and that people have lost trust in Internet marketers are common topics of conversation across the blogosphere. So is there any validity to these claims?

Doyle Marketing and Mobile Devices Though the use of traditional email is in fact declining, recent studies have shown that mobile email usage is not only holding steady, but increasing. People are accessing email from their smartphones and tablets more than ever before. While we most definitely are not witnessing the downfall of email marketing, we are witnessing the beginning stages of a technological revolution. In the midst of this revolution, the responsibility falls on email marketers to change the traditional model of email and alter it to meet the needs of people that are busier and more on the go than ever before.

This means that taking consideration for browser and mobile compatibility is vital to success. Content must load and read quickly and efficiently on a portable device. The use of certain code and programming languages should be reconsidered based on the ability to read them on an iPhone or iPad.

Email marketing is not dead; it’s just changing. Email marketers now have the ability to reach their targets from literally anywhere they are at any moment of the day. The industry will continue to grow, feeding off ease of access and integration with mobile applications, social media and portable devices.

On a side note, it is true that many people have lost trust in Internet and email marketers, and in many senses, rightfully so. That being said, the youth of our country is at the forefront of this technological revolution I mentioned. Technology, ecommerce and web-based communication are engrained in these individuals from a young age. They do not share many of same hang-ups their parents’ generation has with email marketing. Considering this, email marketers have an ideal opportunity to change the face of the industry by building trust and lasting relationships with these individuals.

“A place for friends…”

January 28, 2011 By Jeff Chenoweth

There was a time when weekend plans were made by phoning someone and conversing – not by scanning recent updates on a mini-feed; when catching up meant phone calls, dinner or meeting for coffee – not browsing a profile page for status updates.

There aren’t many aspects of our social lives that Facebook hasn’t affected in some way. It’s changed day-to-day communication, how we spend our free time and how we view our personal relationships. So how did this happen and what can we learn from the genius behind this social network? A lot – but maybe one thing in particular.

Facebook has done one thing consistently since it began and that’s change.

Facebook’s continuous growth, accommodation and presence at the cutting edge of communication and digital technology has made it, not only the biggest social networking site, but the most widely used website in the entire world.

When we think about what’s appropriate for our own businesses and professional endeavors, we often stray away from best practices, web standards, usability and flexibility in an attempt to minimize effort and save time and money. Facebook has dedicated itself to accommodating its users by continuously integrating it with the things they want most. Developers are constantly rolling out new features and technology to build relationships between profile data and give users an ever-expanding amount of access to information.

Facebook knows all about what you want and what you’re doing. You answer its probing questions all the time without even knowing. It stores data about what you “Like,” who you talk to and what your interests are. Doing so enables it to make you aware of applications and options you’ll be interested in and probably want to take advantage of. Staying so in touch with you has also allowed Facebook to build notifications and reminders that always make things easy and accessible.

I just got an email that said, “Hi Jeff, you’ve been having trouble logging into your account.” Facebook is so on the ball that it knows when I stumble over my password… Kind of scary, but at the same time, receiving an email five minutes later with a link to an instant login based on my typing problems is not only smart, it’s damn good customer service.

So if you can’t figure out why your business isn’t taking off, it’s because it’s just not quite as sweet as Facebook. And honestly, it probably won’t be. But don’t let that discourage you! Take a page from their book (excuse the puns) and embrace the evolution of technology. Then take it a step further and forget about profit. Instead concentrate on making the absolute best product built to exceed the needs and desires of your clients. If you can commit, profit will come soon after. A lot of it.

Who knows – they might even make a movie about you.

Honesty and Social Media Marketing

January 14, 2011 By Kerry Doyle

Honesty and social media marketing. With social media and the web today, it is more important than ever to be honest in how you market yourself and your company. Actually, I believe that youshould always be honest, but now it is tougher for some “less than honest” marketers to get away with their BS.

Let’s start with a quick refresher on the 4Ps because they are still relevant today – Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

Product (or service) is what you offer to your customers to purchase. It is the actual utility of what you have to offer and the perceived benefits of that utility.
Price is somewhat self-explanatory. It is what someone is willing to pay for the perceived benefits and utility of your product (or service). The ultimate win-win in marketing is when you offer something that people believe is worth at least as much as it will cost them to purchase it.
Place is where people buy your product or service. Historically this has been in traditional places like a retail store, where location, location, location have been the most important criteria in defining place. Place may also be in the form of a telephone, catalog, personal salesperson, etc. Obviously the Web has really changed the entire place component AND dramatically influenced the other Ps.
Promotion is how you tell your customers (and prospective customers) about your product, why they should purchase it, etc. It is the communication part of the 4P equation where a lot of the BS used to be…..and still is. However, Social Media has changed the playing field.

So, why is it more important now to be honest in your marketing? Plain and simple – with Social Media, customers are more in control of the Promotion of products and services and that trend is just going to get stronger, not weaker. Plus, customers today have a very cynical BS meter ingrained in them. They filter out corporate marketing speak and try to validate the truth with actual experiences…either their own experiences or those of people they trust.

What is the take away here? If you have a product or service that isn’t as good as the competition’s, fix it, make it better or focus on a true benefit that you can back up. You better have a reason for it and be honest about it….maybe it is “almost as good” as theirs, but at a better price or in a more convenient place. The bottom line is be clear, be honest and be focused on building good old-fashioned trust with your customers….even if your product is less than perfect.

People would rather do business with honest, less than perfect companies than those who claim something that is “too good to be true”.